VAC meeting

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Trip Start Feb 06, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Apr 24, 2009

  Guajayvi, Paraguay
Friday, June 13, 2008

Every two months or so we have VAC meetings...which are meetings of the volunteers in the area. In San Pedro, we have about 14 of us and we are spread out over a big area. So, the easiest thing for us to do is hold a meeting at someones house and stay the night. Many volunteers live in areas much more rural than my site, so some have only one bus to their site everyday. It is fun to make a meal that other people enjoy and to speak in English, so we look forward to these times.
  Well, last Wed. we went to another volunteers site to stay the night. To get to her house, I first went to Santani to meet the other volunteers. When we all met up, we took a bus for about 15 minutes on the pavement and then the road switched to dirt. Then it was a little more than an hours drive on the dirt, uneven road. Once we got to the nearest town, we got off the bus. The volunteer was waiting for us in a cachape...which is a horse drawn carriage without a top. Actually there were two cachapes waiting for all of us. We took the cachapes for another 7km down a dirt road to the volunteers house.
  She lives in a cute little town, but as you proabably guessed, no bus. She also only has one faucet of running water outside her house. So, she has an outhouse, or latrine. Anyway, the meeting was fine and the food was great! Veggie stirfry...YUM! Around 11pm we went to sleep. Well, around 2:30 a few of us got up to go to the bathroom. First my friend and then myself. I slowly walked near a tree, but then realized that I was next to the outhouse, so I just went in. Upon leaving the outhouse, I proceeded to walk in the wrong direction....luckily, she had a fence...made of barbed wire. I ran into the fence...not once, but twice. After the second time, I pulled myself together and realized that I needed to make a complete 90 turn to get back to the house. It was one of the funniest things! A few of us busted out laughing...the strange thing is that I had absolutely nothing to drink and I had gone to the bathroom many times earlier in the night. I have no idea why I walked the wrong way.
  It doesn't end there. In the morning, we all got ready to leave around 6:45...well, it began to rain, so we got a late start. If you remember, we rode for about 45 min. in an uncovered wagon....at 7:30 it was still raining, but we headed out to the main road to try to catch a bus. Once we finally got to town, we were all soaking wet. We called and called to find out about the bus. They said there would be one, but we have been in Paraguay long enough to know that NOBODY does anything in the rain...
  A few volunteers went out to search for another form of transportation. So, after an hour and a half of waiting for something, we found a small pickup truck to get 6 of us out and into Santani. Unfortunatly, the rain had gotten harder and the road was slowly being destroyed. The six of us got into the truck with our luggage. After the first half hour I was somewhat numb. We did have our rain jackets and a few umbrellas, but that doesn't help on a muddy, rainy day. After 2 long hours, we got to the pavement a little before Santani. Then it was really cold as we drove on the highway into town.
  It was a long, wet trip, but it was also amusing and fun. That part of Paraguay is wetlands, so there were tons of beautiful birds and scenery. After a while, you just get used to being wet. It was an experience I will never forget. The red mud stuck to people's clothes and faces. We couldn't help but laugh..too bad no one had a camera.
  Thought I'd share a fun Peace Corps experience with you all. These kinds of things are my weekly routine. You never know what will happen next.

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